Colours – RunningWell

Hi Everyone!

Hope you’re all taking some time to pause during some of your runs these days to soak in the fall colours. We’ll be getting dazzled by them in the coming days – hope you enjoy them!

I read something about leaves which I never knew before (in the marginalian by Maria Popova). Apparently leaves are naturally full of yellow, orange, red and purple pigments all the time. But the green pigment of chlorophyll masks them throughout most of their lives. In the fall when sunlight becomes more scarce, the energy cost of using chlorophyll to make food becomes too great, so the chlorophyll starts to break down. And in the breakdown, the natural vibrant hues of the leaf which were there the whole time are revealed to us.

And as Maria points out, who doesn’t love a metaphor? The breakdown which reveals to us what was there all along. There is always value in going through certain breakdowns – whether physical or mental. (I’m not saying they’re easy – just valuable). They are there to help us shed what we no longer need so we can see what we truly value. Yes, even injuries. If we never broke down at all, we might never discover some of our brightest colours which are constantly over-shadowed. We might forget to cultivate our non-running relationships as much, or we might never discover the other experiences we can have which ultimately complement our running (hiking, biking, skiing, … or even – the arts!) If always on an upward running trajectory, it is very hard to step back and value and invest in other areas of life which sustain us and keep us fulfilled. But luckily, nothing in life or nature is ever a trajectory. Neither growth nor breakdown. It is a cycle. A constant cycle. So wherever you may find yourself on that wheel, try to accept it and remember that you’ll come around and your bright colours will be revealed again.

Onto tomorrow’s workout!

We’ll do one more Lakeshore workout before throwing a hills workout in next week. Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 if you want to warm-up with drills, first interval starts at 6:15 sharp.

600’s. Here’s the twist: our recovery will be a 200m jog instead of standing and resting. I’ll mark out 100m from each side so we can do an out-and-back. Let’s aim for 8-10 of these and keep them at 10K pace. It will be a continually flowing workout, so lower intensity per interval but it will creep up on us!
New York Marathoners!!!! Taper workout: 1 mile at marathon pace, 2 x 600 a bit quicker. 90 seconds between all. Feel free to cruise by a bit later if you need sleep – your workout won’t take as long. If we see you we will wish you luck in person!

Thanks all – see you in the am!

Seanna